Review: Stardom – 2018.01.05

Kaori Yoneyama & Shiki Shibusawa vs. Hiromi Mimura & Konami
A pretty poor opener, especially considering that three of the four participants were vastly more experienced than the typical Stardom openers. There was nothing really notable at all in terms of offence and the whole match just felt a little messy. Hiromi Mimura pinned Shiki Shibusawa for the win. 1.5/5

Nicole Savoy & Mari Apache vs. Kay Lee Ray & Xia Brookside
A solid match despite a couple of messy moments and some pretty forced setups. I was impressed with Nicole Savoy’s suplexes and Mari Apache was impressive as ever. Xia Brookside continues to improve and Kay Lee Ray always looks good in the ring. Nicole Savoy submitted Xia Brookside for the win. 2.75/5

AZM vs. Sumire Natsu vs. Io Shirai
A fun match, though a little less wrestling than usual from an Io Shirai match. Kris Wolf missed this show through injury so this match became a three-way. AZM did well as she initially sided with Io before trying to pin or attack when the opportunity arose and played the character well. I’m not convinced that Sumire Natsu has great ring work but she is certainly great as her character and was assisted on the outside by Tam Nakano who was fun to watch throughout. It was strange to see an Io match with almost none of her signature moves but she was still entertaining as she interacted with AZM and attacked Sumire Natsu after the match. Sumire Natsu pinned AZM for the win. 3.25/5

Natsuko Tora & Jungle Kyona vs. Miranda & Rachael Ellering
This was pretty awful. Hardly anything looked smooth and there were quite a few mistakes from everyone. Even the finish from Rachael Ellering to Natsuko Tora was untidy, but she pinned her for the win and received muted applause. 1.75/5

Queen’s Quest (Momo Watanabe & HZK) vs. Oedo Tai (Hana Kimura & Kagetsu) (Goddesses of Stardom Titles)
This eventually became a great match despite taking a long time to really get going. Kagetsu really is one of the best in Stardom and her selling in this match was insane. HZK, Momo and Hana all also contributed a lot and the last five minutes of this match were among the best in recent memory with HZK coming so close to getting the win before Kagetsu spat blue mist at her, performed all her power moves including the Oedo Coaster and got the pin. 4/5